Communications networks, such as the Internet, have historically been built to meet peak bandwidth demands for users. Peak bandwidth demand typically occurs during business hours, as both businesses and consumers utilize bandwidth on communications networks. Developers of communications networks generally pay little attention to economics of developing a communications network. Potential revenue of a communications network is generally less important than providing sufficient bandwidth to handle peak communications to avoid frustrating customers. However, peak bandwidth occupancy is typically limited to a few hours during any given day, while the remainder of the day is significantly below the peak bandwidth occupancy. The end result is that the cost of constructing a communications network to satisfy the peak bandwidth occupancy during a few hours of any given day is difficult to justify. Therefore, an approach to lower peak bandwidth occupancy by encouraging users to send more traffic during less expensive bandwidth occupancy times and less traffic during more expensive bandwidth occupancy times would benefit communications networks service providers and users alike.